two that come to mind are.
my generation and.
won't get fooled again.
Dedicated to some particularly mean-spirited elders:
*************************
MISUNDERSTOOD by Pete Townshend:
Just wanna be misunderstood
Wanna be feared in my neighborhood
Just wanna be a moody man
Say things that nobody can understand
I wanna be obscure and oblique
Inscrutable and vague, so hard to pin down
I wanna leave open mouths when I speak
Want people to cry when I put them down
*************************
om
15 one brother who was raised in a christian household wrote that for as long as he could remember, he struggled with homosexual tendencies.
he said: i always felt awkward.
it seemed that i didnt fit in anywhere.
First off, lest I be misunderstood like Bella15 was earlier, I'm as gay-friendly as you can get without actually being gay.
*Donning my WT-apologist hat, since they don't seem to last very long around here*
matt2414: "If God is perfect, and his creation of man and all life was "very good," how did homosexuality and all the other so called flaws enter the human race so quickly?"
Because God actively took away Adam & Eve's ability to live forever. He also supposedly "cursed the ground" for good measure, only lifting that curse after the global flood. So, it's not a design flaw, it's a curse of imperfection which was imposed on humans after the original sin.
matt2414: "The idea that we have become more damaged or we've changed because we are 6,000 years away from Adam's perfection is really an admission that we have evolved!"
Humans changed from perfect to imperfect with one Divine fell swoop in the Garden of Eden. The only "Biblical evidence" (pardon me while I hurl
matt2414: "There is no scriptural basis for believing that God created in humans a desire for alcohol or alcohol dependency."
God made booze and sex for humans to enjoy, per the Bible.
"Let her breasts intoxicate you."
"Wine that makes the heart of mortal man rejoice."
Homosexuals and alcoholics, at least in part due to their inherited imperfection, take those basic God-given desires and twist them so that they are no longer acceptable to God.
*Removing WT apologist hat*
om
15 one brother who was raised in a christian household wrote that for as long as he could remember, he struggled with homosexual tendencies.
he said: i always felt awkward.
it seemed that i didnt fit in anywhere.
People born now are 6,000 years away from Adamic "perfection". Therefore we have people with a predisposition towards homosexuality and those who are susceptible to alcoholism.
Both are sins deserving of death and must be fought. You'll have to wait until the New System for Jehovah to "satisfy the desire of every living thing".
It's not Jehovah's fault. It's Satan's and Adam & Eve's.
So goes the "logical" party line.
om
i'm feeling like sharing stupid things from the wt/gb/fds, so here it is (underline mine):.
from the april 2013 km: 2013 distric convention reminders (no theme yet):.
[...] avoid eating or drinking during the program.. .
A few years ago we attended a Circuit Assembly where the chairman, whose remarks are always 100% scripted from the CO, informed the audience why hand washing after using the restrooms is recommended.
om
Phizzy: Not sure if it was intentional or not, but you've created a bit of a "straw man" argument with this statement:
But I still stand by my "You should be ashamed" statement for those who go and do not make any kind of stand against the WT/JW machine in any way ever.
I didn't say "don't take a stand". For us, we take a very insidious, crafty, cautious stand. By attending the Memorial, we continue to have access to extended JW family, and therefore are able to take "baby step" stands against the WT in a way that doesn't completely shut us out from conversations with them. It's the path we've chosen.
Best to you on your path.
om
i'm feeling like sharing stupid things from the wt/gb/fds, so here it is (underline mine):.
from the april 2013 km: 2013 distric convention reminders (no theme yet):.
[...] avoid eating or drinking during the program.. .
Any prohibitions on firin' up the barbie in the hotel room?
om
jwfacts: " That may be a message some want to portray in order to keep the peace,"
To be honest, "keeping the peace" is the main reason I will attend for my mid-80s JW parents. They've already lost my gay older brother. I don't want to add to their pain at this stage of their life. For me it's a pretty small price to pay.
Beyond that though, even if my parents got hit by a bus tomorrow, I'd still attend for the purpose of having access to other extended JW family. There is one family in particular that my wife and I have pretty high hopes for. If they thought we were completely inactive and even refuse to attend the Memorial, I think our access to them would be curtailed. I played double-agent elder for about 3 years getting my immediate family out. I can keep up a tiny facade for the forseeable future in the hopes of reaching them.
om
Phizzy: "Those of you going should be ashamed."
Different strokes for different folks.
om
Hey there SandraC. I'll answer quickly today re: Watership Down. ( I did answer your inquiry the other day but it's long since sunk below the choppy surface of JWN. )
No, we never got round to reading it, but it was on my list. I've just put a "hold" on it from the library so will let you know after I've finished.
Best,
om
I will be there to as OTWO put it, to tell "the JW's in your life that there is still hope that you will come back".
I started this thread because a few days ago, I asked my wife about it and her immediate response was "NO"!
We both attended last year. I don't think she had fully thought it through when I asked her.
Here's how I see it. There are only two things in JW World that are bigger bird flips than not attending the Memorial:
1. Getting DFed on purpose, having no "repentance" and no plans on getting back in.
2. Doing #1 plus sending in a DA letter.
The longer I'm out of the JWs, the more I care about excessive lying. If I go to the Memorial, I can honestly say that I attended. If I don't attend, and am subsequently asked "How was your Memorial?" I will have to explain why I didn't go. Short of extreme medical problems, it's a bird flip, IMO.
As long as my parents are alive, I think I'll be a once a year KH attender.
om
